The Game (episode)
Wesley Crusher visits the Enterprise and watches as everyone becomes addicted to a mind-controlling game. Summary Commander Riker is on shore leave on Risa, and he has been spending time with a woman he has met there called Etana Jol (a Ktarian). She introduces to him a "game", involving a device that fits over the ears, which projects an image of circles going into tubes. When the circle goes into the tube, the player is "rewarded" by receiving pleasure signals from the device. He enjoys it so much that he takes it back to the ''Enterprise'' with him. Once on board, he introduces the other bridge staff to the game, starting with Deanna Troi. Wesley Crusher visits the Enterprise while on holiday from the Academy, and he is enlisted in helping the engineering team adapt the sensors to allow the large groups of science teams currently on board to monitor the Phoenix Cluster, which the Enterprise has been sent to explore. Whilst doing this, he meets, and is attracted to Ensign Robin Lefler. By this time, Dr. Crusher, Deanna Troi and Riker have tried the game, and it becomes obvious that it has a mind-controlling effect. They invite Data to sickbay, where Dr. Crusher incapacitates him. With Data out of the way, the game is quickly replicated and distributed throughout the ship, and by the time Wesley and Robin have noticed what's going on, almost everyone is playing it; in fact it seems like everyone has played the game apart from them. Wesley and Robin investigate the device in sickbay, and determine that it has a psychotropically addictive side-effect, and that it stimulates increased serotonin production. Most worryingly, it also stimulates the brain's higher reasoning area. They also investigate Data's mysterious "malfunction", and determine that someone has disconnected his positronic brain from the rest of his body. After ensuring the entire crew has played the game (Wesley and Robin manage to fool Dr. Crusher by using fake game devices), Captain Picard signals Etana's ship that they are prepared to distribute the device to other starships in the sector. After communicating with Etana, the bridge crew discover that Robin and Wesley have been deceiving them, and attempt to trap Wesley. He eludes them for a while, but is eventually captured and brought to the bridge where he is forced to use the game device. At that moment, Data appears from the turbolift and flashes a palm beacon to disrupt the mind-controlling effects of the game. After the rest of the crew are subjected to the flashes, Worf locks onto Etana's ship with a tractor beam. After making it clear to Etana that she cannot escape, the Enterprise takes her to Starbase 82, to let Starfleet deal with her and her crew. Memorable Quotes "Would you like me to leave the two of you alone?" : - Riker to Troi and her chocolate sundae "I never met a chocolate I didn't like." : - Troi "Your neutrinos are drifting." : - Robin Lefler to Wesley, who is a bit slow in disengaging a handshake with her Background Information *"The Game" was the first episode to air following Gene Roddenberry's death on . *A suite on Risa, as it appeared in "Captain's Holiday", was recreated for this episode. It has the same architecture and similar decorations (including a horga'hn) as Captain Picard's room and even features the Risian ocean, seen through the window. *This was the second and last appearance of Ensign Robin Lefler. *This is the first appearance of Wesley Crusher's cadet-style Starfleet uniform. *Data references the events of when he tells Wesley that his mother recently taught him how to dance. *The engineering laboratory is a re-use of the sickbay lab, also seen as the tactical laboratory. It includes the star chart seen behind Dexter Remmick in . *The Ktarian starship ia a re-use of the Zalkonian warship, which itself was a redress of the Tarellian plague ship. *Several parts of the bridge of the Ktarian ship, including the chair and the viewscreen, also appeared on Romulan ships. *The blue-grey shirt that Wil Wheaton wore as Wesley in this episode was auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction. *This episode uses the ancient (and usually disparaged) dramatic device of "deus ex machina," where an impossible situation is resolved by the appearance of a god," the "god" in this case being Data with his palm beacon. Links and References Main Cast *Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard *Jonathan Frakes as William Riker *Brent Spiner as Data *LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge *Michael Dorn as Worf *Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi Guest Stars *Ashley Judd as Robin Lefler *Katherine Moffat as Etana Jol *Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien *Patti Yasutake as Alyssa Ogawa *Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher Co-Starring *Diana M. Hurley as an Ensign *Guy Vardaman as Darien Wallace (uncredited) Parts played by unknown performers *Alfonse Pacelli (uncredited) *Lopez (uncredited) References A.F.; anthropology; antimatter regulator; bioactive silicon; Boothby; brain; cadet; cherry; chili sauce; chocolate; chocolate chips; chocolate fudge; chocolate ice cream; Cleon system; ''Cochrane'', USS; coffee; coin; coma; cortex processor; Creative Writing; dance; The Dancing Doctor; elm; ''Endeavour'', USS; engineering laboratory; exobiology; frontal lobe; gamma ray scanner; horga'hn; Horne, Walter; ice cream; internal sensors; Jefferies tube; Ktarians; Ktarian starship; Ktarian game; lateral sensor; Latin; Lefler's Laws; Martoni, Adam; ''Merrimack'', USS; mud; neurological behavior program; neuroreceptor; neutrino; Novakovich; O'Brien, Molly; ''Oberth''-class; Oceanus IV; Organic Chemistry; palm beacon; Phoenix Cluster; physics lab; planetary evolution; plasma; positronic brain; positronic link; power cell; practical joke; prefrontal cortex; psychotropic drug; reticular formation; Risa; Sadie Hawkins Dance; security alert; sensor array; septal area; serotonin; servo; shuttle; site-to-site transport; sonic shower; specialist; Spot; Starbase 67; Starbase 82; Starfleet Academy; stellar cartography; stellar physics; synapse; Tarvokian pound cake; tea; thermal imaging array; three-dimensional chess; tricorder; warp coil; ''Zhukov'', USS |next= }} Game, The de:Gefährliche Spielsucht es:The Game nl:The Game